[chrisw]

As some of you might know, I'm getting married in Cape Town in November of this year. Now we're getting round to sorting out all of the finer details, we need to choose a photographer. I've been given a list by our wedding co-ordinator of potentials for our day.

Having never been married before, or even paid attention to what my friends have had from a photography point of view, I'd appreciate some comments generally about what I should be looking for, how much I should pay and things like how many prints we should get.

Additionally, any comments about any of these photographers style's etc would be welcomed:

http://www.joe.co.za/
www.greglumley.com
http://www.andrebergh.co.za/
www.lizawigleyphotography.co.za
www.carriewoolley.co.za
http://www.karenbergh.co.za/
www.marlenedevilliersphotography.co.za.
www.geckoproductions.co.za

The prices seem to range from about £400 up to just under a grand depending on the number of prints and the amount of time they are there for. Another problem we have is that we are going on a 4 month trip round Asia, Oz, NZ and the US, so not too sure how it normally works with regards to choosing the photos you want... any ideas? Also would it make more sense just to get the raw files and get them processed in the UK, or get it all done in SA and shipped back to the UK?

I know we have a couple of wedding photographers on this forum, so would very much appreciate feeback on my extensive list of questions!

Thanks

Chris

[GBDG1]

Just a personl opinion but I would rate them

1. www.lizawigleyphotography.co.za
2. http://www.joe.co.za/
3 www.marlenedevilliersphotography.co.za.


The one I rated 1st looks very impressive.

To be honest the others (outside the top 3) looked pretty poor. One of them was awful, think it was the 3rd one.

Edit: yeah it was the 3rd one...

http://www.andrebergh.co.za/nc-052.jpg

Uncomplimentry pose and leaning on what appears to be a giant phallus.

[ush flynn]

spot on lawrenzini
Those 3 have superb style. It helps that SA seems a beautiful place to get married to make those shots all the more special. The third one is about as good as anyone else with a dslr and kit lens. Nothing special at all, therefor not worth paying extra for!

Some of the shots look posed for by models which is fine as the technical skill and style are shown. They should also be able to direct yourselves and guests for natural looking poses. See if any of them usually have an assistant, they can be useful for catching the candid shots while nobody is paying attention. Also aiding in setting up any lighting or moving people around in shots means that
people wont get bored or fed up while photos are being taken

If the one you choose doesnt have an assistant. Im sure i can make myself available to be flown over to SA :D

[chrisw]

Originally Posted by Lawrenzini

Uncomplimentry pose and leaning on what appears to be a giant phallus.

The one you rated first gives the best impression from a website perspective, and is about £600 for the day and provides a bucket load of photos... however, some of the shots do look a little too arty farty for me...

[chrisw]

I also quite like www.greglumley.com... views on this?

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by chrisw

I also quite like www.greglumley.com... views on this?

Not so good IMO. Some photo's are reasonable but there a quite a few that are terrible. Have a look on Radiohead's site and compare, these don't stand up at all against those posted on Radiohead's site.

Anyway, hope you get it sorted and have a great day

Martin

[tomson]

Once you've made your shortlist I'd email each of them and ask to see a full wedding gallery (like shown on www.joe.co.za) - you'll get a good idea of what they can produce during a wedding shoot - not just their best work.

When I do a wedding I post up a gallery for the couple to chose from and they make their decision in their own time - one couple moved house, then country, fought in a war and then returned to the UK before making their final choice - If you let the photographer know what your situation is I'm sure they'll be understanding. And personally, I'd get the photographer to do everything and ship it over to you.

[senu]

Originally Posted by Lawrenzini

One of them was awful, think it was the 3rd one.

Edit: yeah it was the 3rd one...

http://www.andrebergh.co.za/nc-052.jpg

Uncomplimentry pose and leaning on what appears to be a giant phallus.

I agree with your choices but feel you are being a bit hard on the above : That particular one is awful but there are quite a few other pics there which range from fair to quite good

What is a "giant phallus "anyway?

[Radiohead]

Originally Posted by ashworthacca

Have a look on Radiohead's site and compare, these don't stand up at all against those posted on Radiohead's site.

Anyway, hope you get it sorted and have a great day

Martin

Awww shucks

I'd go with the three listed above, in that order. I'd also agree that some of the shots do look posed - I'd not fancy my chances of getting a bride to stand knee deep in the ocean in her £1000 wedding dress.

There is some very, very nice work on display though, at what seems very reasonable prices (obviously the wedding market in SA won't stand UK prices).

[chrisw]

Originally Posted by Radiohead

Awww shucks

I'd go with the three listed above, in that order. I'd also agree that some of the shots do look posed - I'd not fancy my chances of getting a bride to stand knee deep in the ocean in her £1000 wedding dress.

There is some very, very nice work on display though, at what seems very reasonable prices (obviously the wedding market in SA won't stand UK prices).

What kind of prices would you be looking at in the UK for a 3 - 4 hour shoot then?

[Radiohead]

Tough question Chris - anything from the fag-end (£150) to the high-end (£2500+). Some photogs offer various packages for a wedding, with varying prices. I prefer not too and go with what the couple want - my personal feeling is that packages can cause confusion and I prefer to say, "that's my price, I'm there for the day - tell me how long that is for you".

3-4 hours is fairly short for a wedding these days - I'd consider 8-10 hours the norm for one of mine, with anything between 6-8 hours short. I was assuming that £1000 covers the whole day in SA, is that not the case?

[Chunder]

Haven't looked through the links yet, but when we got married, we spent time looking through the physical things that you get from the photographer first - i.e. the different types of albums, the coffee table books, the small handbag-sized booklets, etc.

It was during one of these meetings that we realised that the most important aspect was actually our liking of the photographer; one of the guys - a fantastic artist, with an impressive portfolio, and some superb photo nick-nacks for all the relatives to spend their money on - mentioned that he didn't like our choice of location for the wedding. He didn't like the decor in it. He didn't like that we weren't having a blessing. He didn't like our reception venue. Basically, we was an insufferable pompous ass, who obviously thought that because he's the leading-light in wedding photography (at least locally) that we can boss around his "subjects".
At this point, we realised that there was no point in having a fantastic photographer if we weren't comfortable with him, and weren't going to be able to smile naturally.
(I later discovered during a conversation in a pub that this guy "hates doing wedding photography... it's so time-consuming and samey" (pretty much his own words) - he's only in it for the money! Git!

We went with a photographer that we liked, we got on well with, enjoyed chatting to, and who made an effort to meet us 4-5 times before the wedding to discuss what we wanted, and in order for him to get a feel for what we felt were the important aspects that he absolutely needed to capture.

Our photos turned out totally amazingly, so we were dead happy. Perhaps you'd be best off having a chat with a few of them?

Something to consider - we were given the option of having a formal photographer, and a candid reportage-style photographer together, thus ensuring that we got lots of shots for all the moments - staged and not.
We opted to only have the formal photographer, as we've got a few friends and relatives who have good camera skills and decent equipment, so perhaps that's another line to think along?

[chrisw]

Hmmm, plenty of food for thought there guys.

Sounds like I need to get in touch directly with the "contenders" once we have an idea of what we think we want. Some of the photographers above limit the amount of time to 2 / 4 hours (with extra time an additional cost), whereas others don't stipulate how long they will be there for - obviously something which we need to tie down.

We will get to meet our photographer a few days before the wedding, so I suppose that will be the real time for the decision, if they do turn out to be a complete git!

The photographer which is favoured by most here is reasonably cheap too - about £600 for the day which includes:

• 200 Jumbo (10 x 15cm) Photographs or a couple of 5x7 images, jumbo and half jumbo images (to the value of 200 jumbo photos (Color and/or Black & White or Sepia))
• 4 6x8 (15 x 20cm) Enlargements
• 2 A4 (20 x 30cm) Enlargements
• 1 A3 Enlargement
• 1 Henzo Leather bound Album
• All images on CD
• 40 Thank you cards (postcards, you can write your message on it)

Which all seems very reasonable...

[senu]

Originally Posted by chrisw

We will get to meet our photographer a few days before the wedding, so I suppose that will be the real time for the decision, if they do turn out to be a complete git!

The photographer which is favoured by most here is reasonably cheap too - about £600 for the day which includes:

• 200 Jumbo (10 x 15cm) Photographs or a couple of 5x7 images, jumbo and half jumbo images (to the value of 200 jumbo photos (Color and/or Black & White or Sepia))
• 4 6x8 (15 x 20cm) Enlargements
• 2 A4 (20 x 30cm) Enlargements
• 1 A3 Enlargement
• 1 Henzo Leather bound Album
• All images on CD
• 40 Thank you cards (postcards, you can write your message on it)

Which all seems very reasonable...

Absolutely , It may well be worth calling from here and having a chat to get first impressions but in my experience, establishing a rapport , and getting the costing absolutely clear ( for both parties) then makes you ( and your photographer ) relaxed enough to just wait for the big day
Good Luck

[chrisw]

To be honest, I'd have happily done a drive-thru wedding in Vegas with a polariod to boot... however 'er indoors was having none of it.

Could buy myself a new car with the money spent on this one day!

[senu]

Dont let that on to SWMBO
Its her great once in a lifetime day

Seriously its your day to enjoy too and I think you are going about it the absolutely right way as decent photographic memoires (and video) of the day are by no means trivial